FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Aeromarine Airways began Lake Erie service 100 years ago

On July 14, 1922 – less than two years after its founding (and less than 20 years since the Wright Brothers first flew) – Aeromarine Airways launched its first passenger flight services in the Great Lakes area. The inaugural flight was between Detroit and Cleveland. Aeromarine Airways used the Lake Erie to take off and land. A number of public officials and prominent citizens boarded Aeromarine Airways’ hydroplanes in Detrot for the flights. The aircraft used were named the Santa Maria and Wolverine.

A celebration of flight in Cleveland

The Santa Maria lifted off Lake Erie at 10:40 a.m. It was followed almost immediately by the Wolverine. Both planes flew from Detroit to Cleveland, reaching it in just over 90 minutes. The airplanes landed in Cleveland’s harbor. Aeromarine operated from a floating dock/terminal in Cleveland that was located on Lake Erie between City Hall and the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. Passengers accessed the dock via a motor launch. 

When the passengers disembarked they were greeted by an escort of 20 mounted police and an official welcoming party that was led by well-known aircraft designer and manufacturer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Aircraft Company had built the Santa Maria and Wolverine.

The members of the welcoming party and the flights’ passengers attended a celebratory  luncheon that was hosted by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. The passengers returned to the aircraft in mid-afternoon, and the Santa Maria and Wolverine took less than 90 minutes to fly back to Detroit, arriving before 5:00 p.m.

Regular flight service 

In Cleveland and Detroit, Aeromarine Airways billed itself as the “Ninety-Minute Line.” The airline operated two daily round-trip flights between the cities. It took approximately 90 minutes to travel the 95 miles. One hundred years ago, these flights were a major time-saver. By flying across Lake Erie, passengers were able to avoid the circuitous (and poor) road route, travel by rail via Toledo, Ohio, or the steamers that operated on Lake Erie between the two cities but were much slower. 

The airline carried only passengers and cargo, because the Aeromarine did not have an airmail contract (which is how most early airlines made any money). The one-way fare was $25 (about $400 today), compared with $9 (about $144 today) to travel by train, and $5 (about $80 today) to travel by steamer. 

The Detroit Free Press characterized the flights to and from Cleveland as “an epoch-making three-hour round-trip service.” Aeromarine Airways began regular daily flight service between the two cities. Soon thereafter, a passenger named Peggy MacLean flew on the Aeromarine Airways hydroplane Buckeye between Detroit and Cleveland. She described the flight to the Detroit News as, “It’s magic!” MacLean added, “If I could only make you feel my thrills and sensations you would agree that the world and the inventions of man have almost attained the sublime. It was like being in heaven and looking benevolently down the little spot of earth known as the world.”

Not Aeromarine’s first rodeo

Before it began its Detroit-Cleveland route, Aeromarine Airways had established similar services that linked Miami, Florida with the Bahamas (with service that began on December 20, 1919) and Key West, Florida with Havana, Cuba (with service that began on November 1, 1921). 

In addition, Aeromarine Airways also operated regularly scheduled interstate passenger flights between New York City, Atlantic City, Southampton, and other popular tourist destinations in the eastern United States.

Aeromarine Airways’ first aircraft were the Aeromarine Model 75, which was a “converted U.S. Navy Curtiss F5L bi-wing flying boat with two Liberty engines, an open center cockpit and enclosed front/rear passenger compartments carrying 11 passengers, along with three crew (pilot, assistant pilot/mechanic and steward/bowman).”

Aeromarine Airways’ management used its fleet to its best advantage. The airline flew its fleet north to Cleveland and Detroit in the summer because the flights to the Bahamas and Cuba from Florida were very seasonal (operating with the highest passenger count during the winter months). The airline also established three operating divisions – Southern, New York and Great Lakes. 

Other Aeromarine Airways’ firsts

Although Aeromarine Airways only operated from 1919 to 1924, the airline began a number of practices that rival and subsequent airlines followed or copied. Procedures such as pilot training, maintenance programs and seasonal rotation of equipment were examples of these “firsts.” It also had the first U.S. airline ticket office, which was established in July 1922 and located at 2010 East 9th Street in Cleveland. In the summer of 1923 a ticket office was then located in  Cleveland’s Hollenden Hotel.

Aeromarine also scored “firsts” in in-flight entertainment. It experimented with radio entertainment onboard its “Buckeye” airplane on August 10, 1922. Staff from the Detroit News loaded 150 pounds of radio-receiving equipment into the rear cabin of the flying boat. “Despite the roar of the motors and speed of the aircraft, the morning concert show” of radio station WWJ was clearly received during the 90-minute flight. In addition, the program’s announcer sent greetings to the passengers and crew aboard the Buckeye. Aeromarine also showed the very first in-flight movie to passengers on a number of flights. The silent film “Howdy, Chicago” was shown aboard aircraft promoting Chicago’s “Pageant of Progress” in 1921. 

Legacy

What happened to this groundbreaking airline with its many innovations? The simple answer was that it over-extended itself. But a more complete answer was that because it did not have airmail contracts, the airline also did not have the “cushion” that so many other “airlines” of that time period had. A guaranteed mail contract with the United States Post Office allowed the airlines that had them to buy equipment, hire staff, borrow money, etc.  

After nearly five years of regularly scheduled passenger service, Aeromarine Airways ceased operations. The airline had flown more than 17,000 passengers on its scheduled services, and it had a perfect safety record (something unusual for that period). 

As noted above, it was too early in the industry’s life for a scheduled airline to be financially successful without regular government airmail subsidies. 

After Aeromarine Airways failed, regular airline passenger service between Cleveland and Detroit did not resume until 1927 – and at that time traditional aircraft were used. 

Although this little-known pioneering air carrier was only in business about five years, many of Aeromarine Airways’ “firsts” are still in use today – over 100 years later.

FreightWaves Classics thanks Paul Soprano at aviationcle.com and the Aeromarine website on timetableimages.com for contributions to this article.

Source: freightwaves - FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Aeromarine Airways began Lake Erie service 100 years ago
Editor: Scott Mall